In the container industry, particularly where drugs or other edible materials are stored in bottle-like containers, it is necessary to subject the container to a cleaning process to remove any particulate contaminants such as dust that may be electrostatically attracted to the inner walls of the container.
To remove those contaminants, it is common practice to subject the containers to a cleaning operation. Typically, the containers transported on a conveyor belt are directed to a cleaning station that injects in the interior of the container an ionized, high-velocity air stream to neutralize the electrostatic field that may exist on the walls of the container and place the contaminants attracted to it in suspension. Next a powerful negative pressure zone is created near the container mouth to suck away the suspended contaminants.
Existing container cleaning stations are fixed devices designed to be an integral part of the container processing line. Sometimes, a production run may not need to have containers cleaned, rendering the cleaning station not necessary. In those cases the presence of the cleaning station may be detrimental to operation of the processing line, as it may reduce the processing speed of the containers. Such a drawback, however, is unavoidable as the cleaning station can not be readily removed from the conveyor system.
Thus, there is a need in the industry to provide a cleaning station that is portable and can easily be incorporated into a conveyor system on which containers are transported.